The invention relates generally to dough cutting and packing devices. In particular, the present invention is a dough cutting and packing device having a packing mechanism capable of transferring pieces of dough from a dough sheet to containers at a high rate of speed.
Devices for cutting a sheet of dough into pieces and packing the dough pieces into containers are generally known. U.S. Pat. No. 3,427,783 to Reid, which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses one such dough cutting and packing apparatus. The cutting and packing apparatus of Reid includes an endless cutting unit formed by a plurality of interconnected cutting plates. A sheet of dough enters the cutting and packing apparatus at a first end of the cutting unit. A transversely extending roll presses the dough sheet against the cutting unit to divide the dough sheet into a plurality of dough pieces that are held within hex-shaped openings formed in the cutting plates.
A retaining and releasing assembly is positioned above a center region of the cutting unit. The retaining and releasing assembly includes a plurality of retaining and releasing heads or tubes which are mounted to the cutting and packing apparatus for reciprocating movement through the openings in the cutting plates of the cutting unit. As the tubes move downward they contact the dough pieces retained within the openings in the cutting plates. Vacuum pressure through the tubes allows the tubes to retain the dough pieces as the tubes move through the openings in the cutting plates, thereby removing the dough pieces from the cutting unit. Continued downward movement causes the tubes to enter the open ends of containers positioned beneath the cutting unit. Air expelled from the tubes causes the dough pieces to be deposited in the containers. The length of the tubes are graduated such that the dough pieces are deposited in the bottoms of the containers at the start of the packing operation and near the tops of the containers at the end of the packing operation.
The containers are properly positioned for receiving the dough pieces by a plurality of pairs of laterally extending, horizontally disposed upper and lower flighted augers. Empty containers are delivered to a first end of the flighted augers by a first endless belt conveyor. A second endless belt conveyor removes filled containers from a second end of the flighted augers.
An electric drive motor is coupled to a first gear box which in turn is coupled to a second gear box by a first shaft. The second gear box is coupled to the cutting unit through a first mechanical intermittent drive. The first intermittent drive allows the cutting unit to move in a step-wise manner to position successive cutting plates beneath the retaining and releasing assembly. The drive motor is further coupled to a crank through a third gear box. The crank is connected to the retaining and releasing assembly, and thereby moves the tubes in a reciprocating fashion. The reciprocating movement of the tubes is synchronized with the step-wise movement of the cutting unit so that the cutting unit only moves when the tubes are not extending into or through the openings in the cutting plates. However, reciprocally operating the retaining and releasing assembly through a crank powered by a drive motor operating through a gear box slows the packing operation. In addition, the use of a pressure/vacuum blower along with accompanying ducts, pipes, manifold assembly used in combination with the retaining and releasing heads to transfer dough pieces from the cutting unit to containers further slows the packing process and is susceptible to malfunctioning.
It is evident that there is a continuing need for improved dough cutting and packing devices. In particular, there is a need for a dough cutting and packing apparatus which can efficiently transfer dough pieces from a cutting unit to containers without using a vacuum/pressure blower and accompanying hardware normally associated with prior art dough cutting and packing devices. In addition, the dough cutting and packing apparatus should be capable of transferring dough pieces from the cutting unit to containers at a high rate of speed.